Health Ministry Postpones Pot Farm Plan

The Public Health Ministry has postponed growing marijuana for medical and research purposes due to a delay in the paperwork required to allow two universities to legally grow marijuana in the Northeast.

The farming is now expected to begin next week or early next month.

Rajamangala University of Technology Isan’s (RMUTI) Sakon Nakhon campus and Kasetsart University’s Chaloem Phrakiat campus in Sakon Nakhon were yesterday due to begin growing marijuana to supply the Phra Achan Fan Acharo Hospital in the same province to produce medical cannabis, said Dr Marut Chirasetthasiri, director-general of the Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine (DTTAM), on Tuesday.

Dr Marut said that because more documents were still required to be submitted before the marijuana cultivation could begin, the beginning of this particular plan would have to be postponed.

As for Daycha Siripatra, a Thai folk medicine practitioner and president of the Khaokwan Foundation, a medical cannabis advocacy group, his professional certification is still pending until the new regulations on folk medicine certifications are issued, according to Dr Marut.